As the State Department has just acknowledged, we are currently witnessing the attempted genocide of Christians by ISIS. But this isn't the first (and won't be the last) time that someone tries to wipe the Church off of the map. One of the most frightening was the invasion of the Mongolian "Golden Horde" in the 13th century. We could learn a thing or two from Pope Innocent IV's response.

The awful terrorist attacks unfolding right now in Paris recall for me the martyrdom, at the hands of Islamic extremists, of a group of French monks living in Algeria. The abbot of those monks prepared for his death with a shocking, thought-provoking "Last Testament." It's worth the read.

Sébastien Mamerot, Second Battle of Ramla, from Les Passages d’Outremer (1475) Last week, a “gun-toting atheist” and self-proclaimed “anti-theist” killed three Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There’s some question still about whether the killer was motivated by atheism or some other motivation. What there’s no question of is that much of the secular response was predictably […]

Paolo Veronese, The Battle of Lepanto (1572) On Sunday, I stumbled upon a group of Venetian nationalists commemorating the Battle of Lepanto, which occurred 443 years ago today, October 7, 1571. I spoke to one of the men, who explained that they wanted to remind people of the battle (and of Venice’s contributions to the […]

I don’t understand why I haven’t seen this suggested as a political movement yet: why don’t the people who dislike Occupy D.C. simply occupy the “occupation”? That is, just go down to the protest, and occupy tents while their owners are out. When they come back and demand their tent back, declare that property is theft! I’m […]

Pope Leo X, the pope at the time of the Reformation, came in for a lot of abuse at the hands of the early Reformers. For myself, I think we should be careful about judging Leo X based solely on what his enemies said of him. After all, if one were to judge Obama solely […]

I noticed yesterday that the hot dog vendor near my work was gone, and I asked him about it today. He informed me that he’s Muslim, and that he’d taken off yesterday to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, the “Festival of Breaking Fast.” Like Judaism, Islam uses lunar calendars for months. (By the way, this is why St. Paul […]

In a piece entitled “Nation Bans Minors From Entering Mosques,” the Huffington Post has reported that the authoritarian secular government of Tajikstan has outlawed minors from entering Islamic mosques, and requires everyone under 18 to attend secular school. The crackdown on Islam is a not-subtle attempt to destroy his chief rivals, the Islamic Revival Party. Having only […]

A word of sincere thanks to our president, and our men and women in uniform, for taking the fight to Osama, and winning. To know that the head of the sworn enemy of the United States is finally dead is a relief. But the Vatican’s response is a sobering reminder for all of us: Al Qaeda […]